Obama made one of history's greatest stock market calls 9 years ago

The stock market fell to its lowest level of the recession nine years ago on March 6, 2009.

Days earlier, Obama said, "What you're now seeing is profit-and-earnings ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it."

Stocks have nearly quadrupled since then.

Former President Barack Obama nailed it.

Exactly nine years ago, on Friday, March 6, 2009, the S&P 500 index dropped to an intraday low of 666.79. This level also ended up being the bottom of the stock market's decline in the midst of the Great Recession.

Three days earlier, Obama, who entered office in 2009 — the year after stocks lost nearly 40% — answered a reporter's question about the stock market. But he could not have known that it would end up being one of the most perfectly timed market calls ever.

On March 3, Obama told reporters: "What you're now seeing is profit-and-earnings ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it."

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44 iconic photos of Barack Obama's presidency

Barack Obama takes a moment to reflect before walking on stage to take the oath of office.

White House Photographer Pete Souza had this to say about capturing this photo: "The sun was setting as the Presidential motorcade arrived back at Miami International Airport. I ran to get in front of Air Force One so I could use the beautiful sky as the background when the President boarded the plane."

The White House photographer Pete Souza writes "The President was ready to announce the news about the mission against Osama bin Laden and was putting the finishing touches on his statement in the Outer Oval Office. As he did so, the networks broke in with bulletins confirming that bin Laden had been killed and a photograph of him appeared on the television screen in the background near the Vice President and Press Secretary Jay Carney."

Souza says "One of the most memorable moments of the year was when the President hugged Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as he walked onto the floor of the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol to deliver his annual State of the Union address."

Pete Souza reveals an interesting fact about this photo: "The President hugs the First Lady after she had introduced him at a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa. The campaign tweeted a similar photo from the campaign photographer on election night and a lot of people thought it was taken on election day."

U.S. President Barack Obama collects the folio holding the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 after signing it into law in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, November 2, 2015.

Phto credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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Since then, the stock market has nearly quadrupled, with a gain of about 308%. And, the nine-year bull market in stocks is now the second-longest ever.

Just a few days after Obama's stock-market call, the S&P 500 tumbled 4% to a 12-year low after General Motors' auditors warned the company could soon be bankrupt. But he had also offered a valuable lesson in investing, which would come handy when the next recession or bear market hits.

"What I'm looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market, but the long-term ability of the United States and the world economy to regain its footing," Obama said. "And the stock market is sort of like a tracking poll in politics. It bobs up and down day-to-day, and if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you're probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong."